Engaging

Dear LTCC Family,

We are looking forward to gathering as a church body for our Christmas Eve service tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m.  Our desire is that the Christmas Eve service provides an opportunity for us to worship this weekend as a community of believers while leaving Christmas Day open for us to reflect on and celebrate the birth of Jesus together with our families.

If our website statistics are an indication, then it appears quite a few in our congregation have been to our Affirmation web page and have at least familiarized themselves with how we suggest preparing to affirm our leaders in 2023.  On the web page we talk about LEARNING, PRAYING, and ENGAGING over these next few weeks as a way for our members to ready themselves to formally communicate their support of those led by the Lord to serve the body as elders and deacons.

We’ve all been PRAYING.  Please don’t grow weary of this vital spiritual work.  Praying as a body can be uniquely powerful, so please continue to attend our 9:15 a.m. prayer meeting on Sunday mornings before our 10 am service.

Last week, in kicking off this affirmation preparation period, we emphasized LEARNING.  We think it is worth the investment of time to review and refresh ourselves on our governing structure at LTCC and the relationship dynamics between members and leadership in the church.  There are Scriptures to be studied, articles to read, and videos to watch – all helping to explain why we believe a church is best led by a plurality of elders and an active, gifted, team of deacons.

This week, let us encourage you to ENGAGE.  By engage we mean familiarizing yourself with those God has raised up to serve our church family as elders and deacons.  Updated bio’s are now available to review, but we think the real benefit of these next few weeks can be realized as people are able to connect in person with one or more of our elders or deacons.  Following leaders requires trust.  Trust is built through relationships.  So, if there’s one of our elders or deacons you don’t know that well, or if there is something between you and one or our elders or deacons, we urge you to make the time to connect with them.

Finally, on a personal note, in considering how best to serve the church body at LTCC during this time, I am stepping down as an elder and will not be included as part of this year’s affirmation process.  For now, I think I can better serve the church body in my role as a member of LTCC rather than in the role of an elder.  My commitment to the body has not changed but the way I fulfill my part as a member of the body will.  What that looks like exactly is yet to be determined and will be done so by our leadership.

We continue to trust that the Head of our church, Jesus, is working His purposes in our church.  Ours, as members of the body, is to look to Him as we wait, pray, and respond to His leading for us all.

Even so, Lord Jesus, lead!

See you Saturday night, Lord willing.

On behalf of the elders,
 
 
Pete
________________________________________________________________________

  • Check out our Announcements page and/or our Events page to find out What's Happening at LTCC this week and beyond!

  • Read about this week's Missionary Spotlight, Micah & Laura Myers

  • Joining us via Livestream this Sunday?  Click here to get the link for the Livestream.

Pete Corak